Sr. Director, Global Sales Compensation

Company Description

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, built to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Our products help people make powerful connections, discover exciting opportunities, build necessary skills, and gain valuable insights every day. We’re also committed to providing transformational opportunities for our own employees by investing in their growth. We aspire to create a culture that’s built on trust, care, inclusion, and fun – where everyone can succeed.

Join us to transform the way the world works.

Job Description

This role is based in our San Francisco or Mountain View location.

At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.

We are looking for a leader to run the LinkedIn Global Sales Compensation team as the Sr. Director of Global Sales Compensation. This person will be responsible for our sales incentives programs at LinkedIn, which includes sales compensation design, policy, governance, training, communications, reporting & analysis, operations & administration, and systems tooling & integrations.  

In this role, you will lead a team of subject matter experts in their respective areas and partner with senior leadership across Sales, GTM Ops, Legal, HR, Finance, and Engineering to design, build, administer, report, and performance manage our sales incentives programs. Success in this role requires detailed understanding of Sales commercial models (e.g. B2B SaaS, Online Advertising), experience with design and execution of sales incentives programs to deliver on growth through Sales commercial models, and expertise in working cross-functionally across an organization with specific understanding of how to partner and influence senior stakeholders.  

The ideal candidate is an innovative thinker, grounded in data-driven analyses and solutions; a systems thinker to connect the dots across different technologies / processes / policies; a clear communicator who can develop and gain buy-in for recommendations from the Global Sales Compensation organization that drives growth at LinkedIn through our Sales incentives programs. The expectation is for this leader to be a visionary and lead in a challenging and extremely fast-paced environment, while also having the grace and willingness to change direction when circumstances demand.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy & Design 

• Lead the global sales compensation function, overseeing plan design, policies, governance, incentive programs (including SPIFFs, pilots, and mid-year planning), training, communications, and reporting. 
• Align compensation strategy with LinkedIn’s go-to-market objectives, ensuring scalability, adaptability, and long-term business impact. 
• Stay ahead of industry trends and incorporate best practices to innovate in sales compensation design and execution. 
• Demonstrate strong commercial acumen, ensuring compensation decisions drive growth while balancing operational and financial outcomes. 

Stakeholder Influence & Cross-Functional Leadership 

• Partner with Sales, Finance, Sales Operations, HR, and Engineering leaders to ensure compensation design and operations enable business growth and operational excellence. 
• Represent the sales compensation function in cross-functional technology initiatives, including CRM deployments, ERP, and Territory Planning tools, ensuring accurate data flow and alignment with business rules. 
• Engage directly with Microsoft’s incentive governance committee to ensure LinkedIn’s plans and controls meet risk, compliance, and operational standards. 
• Communicate complex compensation strategies clearly across stakeholders, leveraging data-driven insights to influence and inspire confidence. 

Execution & Operational Excellence 

• Build scalable, AI-ready systems and tools to manage participant data, inquiries, reporting, and automation to drive accuracy, efficiency, and user experience. 
• Ensure compliance with internal policies, regulatory requirements, labor laws, and financial reporting standards. 
• Adapt to shifting business priorities with resilience and agility while maintaining high standards of execution. 

Team Leadership & Culture 

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing global team, fostering a culture of excellence, inclusiveness, and continuous growth. 
• Provide mentorship and create opportunities for professional development, while modeling Link